


There's a Place For Us

by pluperfecthell



Category: Book of Life (2014)
Genre: 1 Sentence Fiction, Ambiguous Relationships, Angst, Community: 1sentence, Community: 1sentencefic, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Headcanon, Heavy Angst, Implied Relationships, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 17:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8293723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluperfecthell/pseuds/pluperfecthell
Summary: Joaquín Mondragón, María Posada, Manolo Sánchez, and various permutations thereof.





	

**Author's Note:**

> What started out as an experiment to see if I could write María/Manolo with Joaquín as a supporting character turned into a mostly Tres Leches, mostly Joaquín-centric monstrosity. Most of these are unrelated, but a few of them are connected (but are not necessarily in order). Featuring Matilda as Matilda, with special guest star Chela, the Bandit Princess. Also beware of badly structured non-sentences.

* * *

 

 

#01 – Walking  
Manolo knows that the best thing to do when María and Joaquín are having one of their (frequently absurd) arguments is to walk away and let them cool off – they’ll forgive and forget about what they were squabbling about soon enough and be thick as thieves once again (until their next disagreement, of course).

 

#02 – Waltz  
“My mother; she taught me how,” Joaquín says, answering María’s unspoken question, his voice affectionate but sad, as they sway, in time, to a dreamy, melancholy waltz.

 

#03 – Wishes  
“Wishing on a star only works in faery tales, dummy,” Joaquín says, already all grown up at the ripe old age of twelve and disdainful of any sort of childish imaginings, but Manolo only laughs and shrugs; “It can’t hurt… and you never know – it might come true!”

 

#04 – Wonder  
So it’s no wonder when later, as the rest of the town slept, Joaquín stared up at a great, silent expanse of winking, blinking lights, closed his eyes, basking in the cool, tranquil glow of the stars, and whispered a wish himself.

 

#05 – Worry  
“Joaquín will be alright, María – Joaquín always is,” Manolo says to María, her brow furrowed with concern and unease, his voice reassuring but resigned, having long since grown used to seeing his friend ride off into the sunset (if Manolo says it enough times, if not to himself, then to María, maybe he’ll finally start to believe it).

 

#06 – Whimsy  
María and Manolo pretend not to be listening intently as Joaquín reads to the starry-eyed children at the orphanage, gathered about him in a tight semi-circle, from a large tome of whimsical tales María had brought over with her from Europe, because they know that once Joaquín notices them, he’ll stutter and stumble and blush before straight up running away, mortified; and, honestly, that would be a terrible shame, because Joaquín certainly has a talent for holding an audience captive.

 

#07 – Waste/Wasteland  
Joaquín shivers despite the roaring fire before him, and wonders how much longer he can bear to face the barren wasteland of his existence alone.

 

#08 – Whiskey and rum  
Evidently, fencing and martial arts were not the only things María picked up in Spain, as María demonstrates by easily drinking both Joaquín and Manolo under the table, with nary a headache or a wink of sleep lost come morning, much to their chagrin.

 

#09 – War  
“They’re siblings, Manolo – that’s just what siblings _do_ ,” María says to a mildly alarmed Manolo, as they watch a loud, drunk Matilda put a louder, drunker Joaquín in a playful (but painful looking) headlock, María nodding with the sage wisdom of one who had lived through several dozen noogies from older siblings herself (and had just had a little too much wine to drink).

 

#10 – Weddings  
And though Manolo might not quite _get_ the roughhousing and the strange, petty arguments that always seem to circle back to the beginning, he definitely gets the love and absolute trust between the two as he watches Joaquín walk Matilda down the aisle to her fiancée, Matilda looking quite teary-eyed, and Joaquín smiling a proud, watery sort of smile himself.

 

#11 – Birthday  
“Happy birthday, María,” Manolo said, beaming, before presenting what was quite possibly the ugliest looking cake in all of existence; but every single imperfection – from the dollops of icing on the edges that must have been a careful, considered attempt at roses, to the actual cake itself, which dipped alarmingly low in its center, as if it had fallen during the actual baking – was an honest, heartfelt reminder of the simple, sincere love that only grew more and more with each passing day, so María just smiled and kissed him, softly but passionately (even though the cake really _was_ hideous and ended up tasting the way it looked).

 

#12 – Blessing  
María doesn’t quite like the way Manolo and Joaquín look at her – like a blessing in disguise, or a Goddess to be worshipped – and though it gives her a weird, powerful sort of feeling, María knows that she needs to break them out of what could become a very unhealthy, very dangerous habit.

 

#13 – Bias  
But María still can’t help but press a chaste kiss to their lips when they shoot her that sweet, adoring look – because, really, who _couldn’t_ help but feel just a little bit flattered, being looked at like _that_ – though they’re still giving her far too much credit for basically anything and everything she does.

 

#14 – Burning  
“ _Buen dios_ , Joaquín, you're burning up,” Manolo says, laying a hand on Joaquín’s forehead, the first time he had fallen ill since losing his medal; “Why didn't you _tell_ us you were so sick,” María continues, reproachful but concerned - and Joaquín, in a moment of lucidity (or perhaps delirium), wonders how that can possibly be true, from the way the cold seems to grip his heart and permeate his very soul - obviously, he’s not sick, he’s _dying._

 

#15 – Breathing  
"For what it's worth, Joaquín... - me and Manolo have never blamed you - not ever," María says, taking his hand and squeezing it gently - and just like that, Joaquín feels a weight he never knew he was carrying lifting off his chest, and he feels like he can breathe again.

 

#16 – Breaking  
“Yes, it _should_ have,” Joaquín hisses, anger betraying untold anguish, and Manolo feels as if reality is crumbling all around him, his whole world tunnel-visioning to that one, singular moment, with nothing but the cruel sting of Joaquín’s grief-fueled rage and the dead weight of María’s limp body tethering him to existence.

 

#17 – Belief  
Joaquín curses himself for ever laying eyes on those three Gods, wishes he didn’t have irrefutable proof of their existence – it just made renouncing any sort of belief in them that much harder.

 

#18 – Balloon  
“I’m actually being serious this time, hermanito – you need to _tell_ them how you feel, before you pop and explode and you’re left with an even bigger mess than you’re already in – please, Joaquín…   _tell them_ … for your own sake.”

 

#19 – Balcony  
"Hey, it's not like I make a habit out of this," Manolo huffs out, when Joaquín, a single eyebrow raised in amused skepticism, questions the originality of Manolo climbing up a balcony in order to woo a potential sweetheart; "Now can you shut up and let me in, I'm about to fall off!"

 

#20 – Bane  
"Because you loved him," Joaquín says, voice comforting and his eye shining with sympathy as María curses the tears she spills for her father and his passing, but his voice becomes thready and distant and the look in his eye faraway and unseeing as he continues; "Even when he was an insufferable, unrepentant asshole, he was still your father, and even when he hurt you in ways you never could've imagined… and you wanted to forget that he even existed, that you were even related, because you just wanted forget how much it hurt to wonder but never know if anything was ever even worth it… but you can’t – because you still loved him then; and you’ll still love him now, even though he’s gone… because that’s just the sort of person that you are, María.”

 

#21 – Quiet  
“Eight years, and still newlyweds… can you believe it,” Joaquín says to Matilda, shaking his head, but the look on his face immeasurably fond, as they not so discreetly sneak glances at María and Manolo, sitting in a quiet corner of the bar, lost in a world all their own.

 

#22 – Quirks  
The best part of reuniting with each other after being apart for so long was learning – and relearning – to love – and re-love – all the various quirks and idiosyncrasies and peculiarities that made them each so different and so distinct and so unusual and just so uniquely _them._

 

#23 – Question  
“No… it can’t be… I can’t really be in love with my two best friends… can I?”

 

#24 – Quarrel  
For once, it’s _Joaquín_ who refuses to speak to either Manolo or María despite their protests and apologies, because María and Manolo are cross with each other, having gotten into a row over something that will, with hindsight, be revealed to be silly and inconsequential to anything - especially after Joaquín, exasperated and offended but mostly terribly hurt, retracts his invitation to both of them to see the fireworks at the beach, because, “I’m not your goddam… _consolation prize_ for whenever you two don’t want to talk to each other, I can’t fucking believe this, are you _fucking kidding me?_ ”

 

#25 – Quitting  
But Manolo, María and Joaquín finally call it quits and reconcile, barely a week later, when Matilda, who had graciously invited the three to Mexico City to visit, takes one good look at Joaquín's sullen, stony stares, and María and Manolo's guilty, abashed glances, and announces, with no room for argument, "If you dumb kids don't make up by tonight, I'm uninviting all three of you and shipping you all back to San Angel first thing tomorrow morning - _no exceptions!_ "

 

#26 – Jump  
“They say, ‘jump,’ and you ask, ‘how high,’… it’s so fucking pathetic – especially because it doesn’t matter in the long run – sooner or later, they’re going to realize the truth – _you’re no better than I am_ – and _then_ where will you be left?”

 

#27 – Jester  
“Well, it’s _obviously_ because I’m so in love with Joaquín,” Manolo said, laughing and rolling his eyes – but, rather than laughing along with him, both María and Joaquín had just _stared_ , Joaquín strangely and María knowingly, and Manolo found himself panicking quietly under their scrutiny – could they _really_ have suspected the truth?

 

#28 – Jousting  
“No, Joaquín, I don’t think bull-jousting is an acceptable substitute for bull-fighting, because I'm pretty sure bull-jousting is something you just made up right now.”

 

#29 – Jewel  
Joaquín stares at the unworn, unwanted engagement ring in his hand, and wonders if he’s ever going to be able to let go.

 

#30 – Just  
“Just _what_ , María,” Manolo asks, meaning to sound angry but only coming up with exhausted; María hesitates only for a moment before she wraps her arms tight around him and holds him close; “Just _stay_ , Manolo.”

 

#31 – Smirk  
“It’s not like that – I’m just their friend, that’s _it_ ,” Joaquín says, for what must be the one millionth time, to a still skeptical and still unconvinced Matilda, his face and probably the tips of his ears hot with embarrassment and irritation; “And stop smiling like you know what’s up, ’cause guess what – _you don’t!_ ”

 

#32 – Sorrow  
Manolo knows the pain and the sorrow of losing family all too well, so the task of comforting Joaquín in his time of need falls mostly to him – but he doesn’t expect it to hurt as much as it does, watching Joaquín mechanically empty a fistful of grave dirt on his mother’s final resting place, face ashen with sorrow but his good eye perfectly dry, as if he had already cried all the tears contained in him, and was now just a hollowed out shell of misery and despair.

 

#33 – Stupidity  
_“You fucking idiot,”_ María hisses; “What were you even _thinking,_ ” Manolo adds, tending to Joaquín’s ruined eye; but María’s voice is wobbling with so much emotion, and Manolo’s hands are so tender and careful on Joaquín’s face, that Joaquín knows that their harsh, reproachful words are as much a confession to him as his own reckless, fool-hardy actions are to them.

 

#34 – Serenade  
" _Now_ who's the one being unoriginal," Manolo says, pretending to be put out, but actually extremely flattered, his eyes sparkling with mirth and a playful smile on his lips, as Joaquín bangs out a few dusty chords on the (only slightly) out-of-tune, dusty piano; "It is _too_ original, because _I've_ never actually done anything like this before - now shut up and let me sing to you, I'm trying to be romantic, dammit!"

 

#35 – Sarcasm  
Joaquín will never admit it to his face, but he finds Manolo at his most attractive when he’s at his most acerbic.

 

#36 – Sordid  
But Joaquín thinks Manolo already knows, the bastard, just from the way Manolo grins and practically _leers_ at him whenever he makes a particularly sarcastic, biting comment (the _bastard_ ).

 

#37 – Soliloquy  
“How did I let this happen… how did I fall in love with my two best friends?”

 

#38 – Sojourn  
Though Matilda does not speak very much about herself, María and Manolo still pick up quite a bit about Joaquín’s sister during their sojourn in Mexico City; that she became a nurse to take care of her and Joaquín’s ailing mother; that she wanted to be a writer, like most of her relatives, when she was younger; that she still wrote short stories and read whatever she could get her hands on in her spare time; that she was relieved Joaquín had found people who he could easily and safely call his family; that she would hunt down and castrate anybody who would dare think to harm a single hair on her precious baby brother – this last fact, unlike the others, was not so much lightly implied as it was stated with very vehement conviction.

 

#39 – Share  
María was always the type to share what she had, but as she watched Manolo and Joaquín from afar - Joaquín dramatically reenacting some daring, heroic feat, Manolo tuning his guitar and laughing at Joaquín's over-the-top theatrics - María knew that, whatever she called the relationship between herself, her lover, and their best friend, she would never, in this lifetime and the next, be able to part with it – and with them – willingly.

 

#40 – Solitary  
María doesn’t understand how Joaquín can stand the solitude of the desert, with only Plata to keep him company on long, lonely nights; Manolo understands perfectly how Joaquín can stand the solitude of the desert, with only Plata to keep him company on long, lonely nights.

 

#41 – Nowhere  
Joaquín was going places – he knew he was – he knew he _had_ to – but when all of his plans (his hopes, his dreams) leading up to it had come crashing down around him _(be a great hero, marry María, make Papá proud, make Mutti proud, make_ somebody, ANYBODY _proud at all)_ , Joaquín found that the great _somewhere_ he had planned out for himself didn't actually exist, and where he was actually headed for all this time was a vast, empty _nowhere_.

 

#42 – Neutral  
María keeps her expression carefully neutral as she listens to Manolo and Joaquín’s increasingly heated debate, until finally, she can take no more and announces that, “you’re both wrong, and this argument is absolutely pointless; now both of you shut up and help me decide what to cook for dinner tonight.”

 

#43 – Nuance  
Tonight, Joaquín finds himself training even more fervently than usual, just so he doesn’t have to over analyze any and every possible double meaning in María’s words, every single, tiny, distinct inflection in the tone of her voice, when she had said (perhaps a touch absent-mindedly) that he would, “ _make a good husband to someone, someday._ ”

 

#44 – Near  
Maybe he was just a distraction to them, an amusing way to pass the time until they realized what it was they _really_ wanted – but the more he thought about it, the more Joaquín realized that he didn’t care; just being near them was enough.

 

#45 – Natural  
“I’m not surprised, you know – it’s only natural to fall for your best friend,” Matilda announces, without provocation, on the last night of Joaquín, María, and Manolo's visit, causing Manolo to blush bright red, María to snort wine up her nose, and Joaquín to scream an anguished, “Matilda, what the _FUCK!_ ”

 

#46 – Horizon  
“So… what happens next,” Manolo wonders, as he and María watch the sun set on a backdrop of brilliant colors; María smiles and shrugs before wrapping her arm around Manolo’s waist, pulling him close; “I don’t know… I guess we’ll just have to find out together, won’t we?”

 

#47 – Valiant  
“What’s even the point of the valiant knight routine,” Chela asks, like she’s curious and actually wants to know, and Joaquín shuts his eye tight, as if doing so will block out the sound of her voice; “To make you worthy of them… that’s a laugh – you can try all you want, but you’re _tainted_ , Joaquín – you’re corrupted, and sooner or later, you’ll realize that… and you’ll end up back in the darkness… _with me._ ”

 

#48 – Virtuous  
“I’ll kill her, Joaquín – for what she did to you, I’ll _fucking kill her,_ ” Manolo says, and even with the crack in his voice, the tears in his eyes, and the tremble in the hand pointing Chela’s own pearl-handled pistol at her, Joaquín believes it, so Joaquín limps and drags his (bent, twisted, broken) body between the two of them and claps his (bent, twisted, broken) hand over the muzzle of the gun; “Don’t be her, Manolo… don’t be Chela – Manolo… _be you,_ ” Joaquín whispers it, repeats it like a prayer, until Manolo’s face crumples and he tosses the gun as far as he can before he throws his arms around Joaquín, sobbing in sorrow and relief.

 

#49 – Victory  
A shot rings out suddenly, and Chela shrieks, collapsing, clutching her shoulder as bright red dribbles and leaks down steadily between her fingers, her face white with shock and pain and fear; Manolo and Joaquín break apart, stunned and confused and horrified when they see María, smile grimly victorious, but eyes devoid of emotion, holding the smoking, pearl-handled pistol in her hands; she pulls down the hammer and says, tonelessly, “It’s okay, you two… if neither of you can take care of her, _I will._ ”

 

#50 – Defeat  
“Joaquín, please, we have to _go,_ ” Manolo choked out, anxiety and terror clamping down on him like a vise, but Joaquín didn’t seem to share the sentiment – instead, he had become unsettlingly calm and quiet, and he had a strange expression on his face… like he had finally come to terms with something, and was finally at peace; “Just forget me, Manolo,” Joaquín said, and Manolo could barely make out Joaquín’s sad, gentle smile through the haze of his tears; “It doesn’t matter, Manolo, it’s okay… it’ll be okay… all that matters is that you tried.”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> I might turn this into a one-shot/short fic collection. Maybe. I'm always open to suggestions on my writing tumblr, submergedmemory, or my personal tumblr, paper-jam-sans.


End file.
